Chapter Forty-Three: The Valentine

When Remus woke a few hours later he was feeling much better, courtesy of the tonic, which Madam Pomfrey mentioned several times. She seemed relieved he was feeling better and Remus decided he must have just gotten a headache from all the reading he was doing. Sure Greyback's picture was weird, especially since he couldn't place the face, but the werewolf wasn't his professor so there really was no reason for him to be physically sickened by it.

Not like how he had felt, it was very weird, and when he hesitantly brought it up to Madam Pomfrey she just huffed that he was too stressed and probably working too hard so he quickly shut up worried she'd keep him longer if he didn't.

She was, in fact, reluctant to let him go but he convinced her it was best he slept in his dorm and get there before curfew. He was surprised when she didn't try to offer the usual sleeping tonic she offered him but didn't think much of it. Maybe the calming tonic he had just taken negated the other one somehow.

"Yes, I promise I'll sleep Madam Pomfrey."

"And if you start feeling even a bit sick or out of sorts you come back here right away understand?"

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey." He responded respectfully despite the impatience he felt at wanting to leave. Her gaze softened and she pulled him into a hug he had only come to expect on full moon nights. He flinched at the contact but it wasn't unpleasant and he hugged her back briefly.

"Is there anything you want to talk about dear?" He wanted to know how she knew Greyback but knew that was a dangerous line of questioning so instead he shook his head offering her a convincing smile.

"No, I feel better now. Sorry for bothering you."

"It's not a bother at all dear. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Then he was leaving the ward feeling relieved until he saw Lily huddled outside waiting for him, crying.

"Lily, what's wrong?" He asked, his turn to sound concerned as he quickly went to her side.

"Sev hates me now Remus. He says I laughed but I didn't! I swear I didn't." Remus believed her, he hadn't laughed either, and though he was in the minority he was sure Lily was as well.

"Lily I'm sure he's just upset in general." She nodded but didn't look convinced. Remus sighed, he didn't really want to go back into the medical ward but he knew Lily wasn't going to calm down until she knew her best friend didn't blame her.

"Come on, let's go talk to him again. Maybe he's calmed down by now." She seemed nervous but was in the ward again before Remus could say 'only if you want to'.

"Sev ...Sev please talk to me."

"I told you to go away Lily!" Came an angry response from poor Sev whose skin was pink and sparkly and who had a bruised eye from where the corner of the letter had hit him. A letter he had thought was from Lily.

"Please, Sev. I didn't laugh, you know I'd never laugh."

"I don't care I ...YOU!" Severus suddenly shouted just now realizing Remus was standing slightly by the curtain. He hesitated then approached the angry boy.

"Severus I'm really sorry." He responded sincerely, truly feeling bad for the boy's humiliation and how he couldn't stop it.

"Sorry! SORRY!" He screamed his pink face turning purple and blotchy.

"Sev…."

"He was a part of it. He's a part of THEM Lily! Don't you see he's the enemy!"

"Not Remus! He's sorry Sev. He wasn't feeling well and ..."

"Don't defend him. How can you possibly defend him? I thought he was different too Lily but he's a part of Potter's gang. He's just like them!" Remus flinched at the accusation, he had let his friends influence him quite a bit, but he didn't think he'd ever be comfortable with their bullying of the Slytherins they deemed bullies.

"I'm sorry Severus. There's no excuse. You're right. I didn't help them but I didn't try to stop them."

"Don't lie! I saw you pointing your wand!"

"That wasn't to hurt you it was to help you." He explained feeling sad again, if only he hadn't been so out of it he could he levitated the envelope away from Severus who then never would have opened it.

"Yeah right! Like I'd buy that Lupin! You know I don't even feel bad about what happened to you anymore. You deserved it!" Severus hissed angrily, betrayed and embarrassed. Remus stiffened feeling that was taking it too far. He was surprised to find Lily thought that too.

"Severus that's a horrible thing to say." She scolded in a similar fashion to how she had scolded Remus a few hours before.

"I don't care, Lily. Quit defending him! It's always Lupin this or poor Lupin that I'm sick of it!" He snapped and Remus felt his face grow hot, he had never wanted to cause trouble between Lily and Severus, even if he didn't always think Severus was the best friend.

"You ...YOU…." Lily stammered her face also red. Then she threw something at Sev and stormed away. Remus watched her go surprised and was about to follow when Severus hissed at him angrily

"Don't pretend you don't know what we did to you Lupin. I don't know what game you are playing but ..." He trailed off suddenly seeming to realize the small bag of chocolates Lily had chucked at him before storming off.

"What do you mean?" He dared to ask wondering if James was right and the Slytherins were behind what happened with the tower. But Severus had gone very pale, still the color pink though, and Remus realized his eyes were filled with tears over the chocolates in his hands so he left. Perhaps he should have stayed to console Severus but he wasn't sure he could at the moment with the boys taunts ringing in his ears, and he was more concerned about Lily.

"Lily wait." He called after her glad the doors were swinging behind him as he heard Madam Pomfrey bustle up from the back asking Severus loudly what the commotion had been. If the matron saw him she didn't call after him so he was able to rush after his friend and catch up to her fairly quickly.

"Are you going to yell at me too?" She snapped at him. Remus went pale, he didn't understand why she was mad at him.

"No. I was going to thank you ...and see if you're ok." Lily looked over at him her eyes dry and shining with determination.

"No I know, sorry Remus I'm just so frustrated at Sev." The last thing Remus wanted to do was defend Severus, but he felt he had to, considering it had been, at least partly, his fault.

"He's humiliated, Lily. Most of Hogwarts were laughing at him not that long ago. He seemed thankful for the chocolates and seemed upset at how he'd been treating you after you left." Lily stopped walking and gave Remus a warm smile.

"You really are very kind Remus. Especially after what he said to you….. I'm still angry but I guess...I'll hear him out tomorrow." She sighed then turned back and continued walking, surprisingly in silence for a while. It wasn't unpleasant, but it did feel a little strange without her usual constant talking which was quite comforting to Remus. He watched her closely but she seemed more lost in thought than anything so he let her be.

When they reached the common room which was deserted, as they had only made it back with a minute to spare, she stopped him again.

"Thank you, Remus, for being a good friend." Then before he could respond she shoved a bag of chocolate in his hand. More surprising still, she leaned over and quickly kissed his cheek before rushing off with a high pitched "goodnight."

Remus stood there stunned for a while, surprised and confused by both gestures. He finally pulled himself together and went to his dorm where his friends greeted him with laughter and taunts about how he must have been snogging his "girlfriend" to take so long.

"I guess it's good you kissed and made up Lupin." James laughed and Remus rushed to his bed before they could see his blush.

"Goodnight you berks." He muttered fondly and he fell asleep to their quiet laughter and responses of goodnight.

…

Remus was thoroughly relieved that things didn't get awkward with Lily as he was worried they might. But she seemed the same as ever and he realized he was being stupid and he probably just didn't know friends kissed each other on the cheek, except maybe it was just a girl thing since none of his friends ever did.

He decided not to dwell on it much preferring to focus his energy on studying and his own private investigation, unbeknownst to his friends. Because with the weight of Professor Blatvnik not being Greyback lifted off his shoulders he was actually looking forward to the full moon, watching his professor carefully leading up to it.

…

However, as Remus got pale and sickly his Professor seemed fine and by the time he disappeared for his monthly routine, he was pretty sure that either his professor wasn't a werewolf or was impossibly good at hiding it.

After he returned to his roommates and found that during the two days of class he missed Professor Blavtnik assigned a lot of homework, he realized it was impossible that his professor was a werewolf. Which bode the question of who it was. For the next few weeks, Remus slowly made his way through his other professors, going through past assignments and memories to slowly eliminate them as possible werewolves. That left a student and with that realization came a stab of sympathy and a thrill he felt bad about. He had never met many werewolves, and he had never met any his age.

Of course, if Madam Pomfrey wasn't helping them, and he couldn't understand why she wouldn't, it meant his defense against the dark arts professor was hiding them. But to hurt the student or help them was the real question that plagued his mind. He even purposely brought up a discussion on werewolves that left him shaky and certainly leaning more towards the worrying conclusion his professor was trying to hurt this student whoever they were.

Of course, there was no way to figure out who this student was unless the student was a first-year like him. Nor was there anything Remus could do about it unless he let Dumbledore know which he was wary to do so. Because it was possible Remus got it wrong and come the first of March he realized this had indeed been the case.